painting
by accidentallysherlocked
Summary: AU where Levi paints his house with Mikasa's help.


**A/N:** I really wish FF had a queue of sorts so I cant just put these up at later dates without forgetting about them. Also, I feel like my fics don't belond in the M ratings just because of their cuss words but there you go

**Disclaimer:** I don't own SnK

* * *

"Ackerman," Levi muttered, rolling over in bed. "Ackerman, wake up,"

There was a muffled groan from somewhere in the sheets next to him; there was a little movement, before it faded away again.

"Ackerman, your brother is pounding on my damn door and he's going to break it down."

Her head gradually emerged from the blankets and pillows piled on his bed, essentials that were only pulled out from his cabinets whenever she spent the night. "What time is it?" She mumbled blearily, letting her head fall back onto a nearby pillow.

"It's eight in the fucking morning. Make him go away," Levi commanded. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Levi," Mikasa said, tiredly amused. "We both know you can never sleep past seven thirty in the morning no matter how late you sleep. You were probably spending the last half hour trying to decide if you were actually really going to paint your walls, to which I can answer that yes, you are, because the cleaning that is going to ensue afterwards is going to make up for that therapy you're skipping,"

"Fuck off," he told her, pushing her off the bed. "Go find out what your bratty brother wants, before he decides to break into my apartment using brute force."

She rolled out of the bed tiredly, pulling on a shirt she found laid out on the chair and ignoring Levi's protests that he was going to wear it that day. "Eren?" She asked, half hanging out of Levi's front door and stopping her brother's repeated knockings on the door. "If I leave the house angry, and I don't call or text, it probably means that I'm angry with either you or Armin—most likely you—and that you shouldn't try to contact me until I get in touch with you, and definitely not try to knock down the door of my boyfriend's apartment."

Eren at least had the courtesy to look slightly sheepish as he scuffed his feet on the floor. "I'm sorry for rummaging around your room. Will you please forgive me?"

"What do you need?"

"Annie's mad at me," Eren told her, giving her his best puppy-dog face. "And I can't figure out why, and today's our anniversary, and I don't want her mad at me over our anniversary!"

She sighed. "Where's Armin? He's better at these kinds of things than the two of us combined,"

"He's out in some swamp with his research team and his phone is turned off," Eren explained.

"Come in," she told him, opening the door a little wider and admitting him. "Levi, Eren's here," she called over her shoulder into the apartment, before shutting the door firmly behind her. "Have a seat," she gestured to the orange couch that Levi had had even before she'd known him. "I'll go in and get changed before coming out."

It was then that Eren finally registered that his sister was in nothing more than her underwear and an overly large shirt, causing his face to flush and turn away in embarrassment. She rolled her eyes and walked back to Levi's room, where his face was considerably grumpier than before, which was a difficult feat to accomplish.

"He's having relationship troubles," she explained. "And Armin isn't around to help,"

"So he thought that coming to _you_ was a great idea?" Levi snorted. "And don't think about dragging me into this, either," he added just as Mikasa opened her mouth. "We're both shit at relationships, and you know it."

"I have to at least try to help him," she grumbled. "I really wish Armin would call at any moment." She buttoned her jeans and threw a shirt and a pair of pants at Levi, who was still lounging on the bed. "Get up and come out. It's rude to stay in bed when you have a guest at home."

"Is it still considered rude if you were out there anyway, and if the guest came by uninvited?" He demanded, but pulled the shirt on anyway as Mikasa made her way out of the room, ignoring his grumbling.

"Is Levi repainting?" Eren asked interestedly, looking at the cans of paint languishing in a corner of the sterile living room. "I didn't think he'd ever do that. I thought the white suited him,"

"Hanji picked them out," Mikasa said by way of explanation. Once you got past Levi's brusque and abrasive personality, it turned out that he was actually a pretty nice guy once in a while. He'd let Hanji pick the paint colours as a birthday present to her, which she'd wholeheartedly gotten into, once camping out in his apartment for three days straight with large quantities of paint swatches. Levi had spent the same three days sleeping in his office, and verbally abusing the Hanji's character in front of anybody who would listen.

Just as Levi was emerging from his room, Eren's phone rang, a high-pitched tune with an annoying buzz filling the air.

"It's Armin!" Eren all but jumped up, clutching at his phone excitedly. "Hello! Armin, listen, I'm in huge trouble with Annie and..." Mikasa stopped listening as her brother started to explain it all again to their childhood friend. She crossed the floor into the kitchen behind Levi, who had chosen to bypass all societal niceties and ignore Eren, going straight to prepare breakfast for the two of them.

"Eggs?" He asked, even as he cracked them open into a bowl singlehandedly, reaching with his other hand for the frying pan. She crossed her arms and leaned against a kitchen chair, watching him cook with an ease which still surprised her.

"Sis?" Eren called in from the front door. "Armin called me, and it's all settled, so I'm going to go now, okay?"

She shut the door behind him with more reassurances that no, she wasn't mad anymore, but if he tried doing something like that again, he would have much more to worry about than his sister not returning home for one night. By the time she got back to the kitchen, the eggs were on plates, and he was washing the pan by the sink. She opened the cupboard and got their mugs out, and poured hot water over the teabags she retrieved from a cabinet drawer.

Breakfast together was always a quiet affair; she was usually still half asleep throughout the first half of the meal, and neither of them particularly enjoyed being interrupted by anything while perusing their half of the newspaper and sipping on their boiling hot tea. When they were done, signalled by the shutting of their respective halves of the newspapers, he got up to wash the dishes (he didn't quite trust her with them) while she brought the papers out to the recycling bin.

When she got back, Levi was standing over the pots of paint, arms crossed over his chest, face expressionless. Neither of them had helped purchase the paint (Hanji had bought it all herself using Levi's money, then enlisted Erwin's reluctant help to bring everything over to the house), and the colour of each pot of paint was obscured by a label for each room.

"The colours aren't going to change even if you glare at them for 34 days and 24 nights," she told him, rolling up her sleeves. "And you're painting your walls today; I didn't apply for leave just so I could watch you stare at the paint,"

Levi sighed, but crouched down. "We'll start with the kitchen, then."

* * *

By the end of the day, they'd finished painting all three rooms in the house; his bedroom, the living room, and the kitchen.

Once stark white, his apartment was now a blend of orange, green and blue, which surprisingly enough worked well together. The two of them were also similarly coloured; Mikasa had been holding the paint above his head, taunting him about his height, and the resultant scuffle had caused her to lose her balance, and she'd _accidentally _tipped the paint over his head. He'd painted an even streak across her forehead then, the blue standing out comically from her pale skin. One thing led to another, and a corner of the kitchen was left a riotous mess of colour before they'd called it even, after realising that if they continued, there wouldn't be enough paint to spare. The look on his face when he saw the mess had been glorious, and she'd wished she'd had something to capture it with.

But perhaps even more surprisingly, Levi didn't once threaten to harm Hanji, or even cuss at her—he hadn't even brought her up at all. When Mikasa mentioned it, he'd simply said that since he was the one stupid enough to give Hanji full control over something which would impact his life forever, then he was in no position to blame her for any of her (shitty, and ridiculous)decisions.

She raised an eyebrow, then put a hand to his forehead. He smacked it away with a scowl. "What are you doing, Ackerman?"

"I'm just checking if you have a fever," she smiled slightly at him. "Alright, I have to go now. I'm exhausted from painting all day and I have to go to work early tomorrow,"

"If you stay the night, I'll drive you there,"

"Mm," she hummed, collapsing on the couch. "I'm hungry,"

"What do you want to eat?"

"Anything," she mumbled, her face pressed against the cushions.

"Get _off_ my couch, Ackerman. You have paint all over you and I don't want any of it staining my furniture," he called over his shoulder, as he headed into the kitchen.

* * *

He came back out of the kitchen shortly after with two plates of food, only to find Mikasa fast asleep on the couch, her head half hanging off it.

"Ackerman," he nudged her slightly. "Ackerman, wake up,"

There was no reaction from the girl, other than her slight shift so that her whole head was now hanging off the couch.

Levi glared at her sleeping figure briefly, before pushing her head back up onto the cushions. He sat on the floor by her head, allowing himself to relax against the orange monstrosity he owned. They remained like this for a long time; he wasn't quite sure how long. It had been a long time since he'd been able to just sit and let time pass him by, and the simplicity it presented felt like coming home to a home he never knew he had. Quite like coming home and finding Ackerman messing with his things, he thought.

When Mikasa finally woke up, the room had darkened along with the sky outside, the food was cold, and Levi was almost asleep, his head lolling back against the arm of the couch.

"Levi," she mumbled, nudging his head with her own. "Levi,"

"The prodigy awakens," he drawled, alertness returning to his eyes quickly. "The food has gotten cold,"

"I'll go warm it up," she volunteered. She didn't move an inch, instead lying there on the couch, her eyes fastened on the ceiling above her, and he didn't nag at her to move either, instead staring ahead of him. Time passed them by in the same fashion as it had before, only this time the ticking of the clock seemed louder than before. _Tick, tock, tick, tock_. It was really quite fucking obnoxious, the ticking. He hadn't realised it before.

"Levi," Mikasa said drowsily from her position on the couch above him. "Can we just go to sleep? I'll take care of the dishes tomorrow,"

"_Tch_." Came the concise reply. She waited. "I'll hold you to it."

She rolled off the couch then, landing on his legs which had stretched out on the rug beneath him. "Fuck, Ackerman," he hissed.

"It's too late for cussing, and I'm too tired to deal with it," she told him, tugging him down on the soft fabric next to her. "You probably don't want me and my paint in your bed, so I'm going to sleep here tonight,"

"What makes you think I want you on my rug, then?" He returned, but didn't move from his position as she curled up on him. There was no reply, only the obnoxious ticking of the fucking clock as it went on into the night. Seconds passed, then minutes, and she lay there in his arms, her heavy weight comforting in the void darkness of the night. He fell asleep to the lullaby breathing in his ears, the clock a far-away sound now, something in the distance, and not in the now.


End file.
